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Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture
Presentation of the Theme of the Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa
by H.E. Mrs Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture
on “Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods through Harnessing Opportunities for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development”
at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union

26 June 2014
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

Excellency, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
Excellency, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Chairperson of the African Union,
Excellences Heads of State and Government of the African Union,
Excellency Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission
Excellency Banki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations
Excellences, Colleagues Commissioners
Excellency, Dr. Ibrahim Essane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency
Distinguished representatives of Regional Economic Communities,
Excellences, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished representatives of African and international organisations,
Distinguished representatives of Africa's development partner institutions,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All protocols observed.
It is my singular honour to introduce, for Your Excellences’ debate, the theme of the Year of Agriculture and Food Security.
Excellences, would recall that at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly on the 30th of January 2014, you formally launched the process and roadmap for this defining year under the theme "Transforming Africa's agriculture for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods through capturing opportunities for inclusive growth and sustainable development."
This theme echoes well with that of the just-concluded year-long commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the OAU now AU, that is "Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance" as well as with the Vision of the pan-African transformative Agenda 2063 - “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
This is because ensuring an inclusive and transformative agricultural growth that builds self-reliance of the African citizenry, including for food and nutrition security is central to re-asserting African dignity.
Your Excellences’ debate on this theme today is expected to provide strategic direction and guidance for renewed and heightened commitments on concrete goals and targets in advancing Africa's agricultural growth and transformation agenda for the next decade.
Excellences, my short presentation focuses on four interrelated aspects of the theme, notably the opportunities, taking stock of the progress made, the challenges, the vision and its realisation.
I will begin with the immense opportunities that the global and continental dynamics are presenting for Africa to harness as we embark upon a transformative agricultural development.
The best outlooks available today indicate that, the projected increase of global population from 7.2 billion today to 9.6 billion by 2050, necessitates an increment of food production globally by at least 60%. And since Africa is home to a population that is increasing the fastest, Africa’s demand for food is projected to almost triple by 2050, increasing by 178% compared to 89% in India and 31% in China. These are triggered, in addition to population growth, by rapid urbanization and income growth.
Sources such as the World Bank projects that the African urban food market will grow 4-fold to exceed a total annual worth of US$ 400 billion by 2030. The total value of the agri-food system business (from farm-to-table) that is required to meet Africa's booming demand is estimated at 1 trillion US dollars, including a potential for Africa to triple the value of its annual agricultural output from US$ 280 billion today to some US$ 800 billion by 2030.
Excellences, as you engage in today’s debate, this snap-shot of figures is intended to provide a clearer sense of the magnitude of the considerable opportunities that exist for African to seize and facilitate actions for accelerating the structural transformation of Africa's agriculture for food and nutrition security, broad-based and inclusive economic growth and shared prosperity. We recognize that some AU Member States are already positioning themselves in this regard and tapping on these opportunities and we recommend that many more do so at a heightened scale.
Excellences, the second aspect of my presentation relates to stock-taking of the progress made on CAADP since its adoption in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique.
With the benefit of hindsight, your decision to adopt the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) at your 2nd Ordinary Session in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique, as an Africa-owned and Africa-led framework to guide the agricultural development process, remains one of the monumental decisions to-date. Among other things, it has enabled agriculture to move to the centre of Africa’s development agenda. Ten years on, most of the AU Member States have formally embraced the CAADP framework and used it while reviewing and refining their policies, strategies and investment plans. Similar progress is being made at the regional level, with RECs having been active in rolling out the CAADP. It is encouraging to note that these policy and institutional interventions have spurred agricultural growth, as growth in the agricultural sector increased, under CAADP, from the historical stagnation or even decline of the previous few decades to an average of 4% per year.
Moreover, a few AU Member States have registered remarkable agricultural growth rates, exceeding the CAADP target of 6%, thus attesting clearly that the rest of the AU Member States can do it as well.
Similarly, we have witnessed progress on the allocation of public expenditures to agriculture, which has been increasing at an average rate of 7.4% per year since the adoption of the CAADP. While such an increase suggests doubling in volume of expenditures compared to the pre-2003 levels, comparatively, however, it has been increasing at a lesser rate than gross public expenditure during the same time. Several Member States have been making efforts to meet the CAADP target of allocating at least 10% of public expenditure to agriculture; and most importantly they are seeing the benefits of according primacy to this strategic sector. This needs to be encouraged and sustained if we are to optimally exploit the opportunities I just hinted on.
Excellences, at this juncture, please permit me to highlight some of the structural challenges and issues that call for urgent action.
While we recognize the encouraging performance of the agricultural sector over the last few years, we are also faced with the realities that hunger and malnutrition have still been prevalent in Africa; that dependence and vulnerability of economies and livelihoods on factors outside Africa’s control is increasing, seriously undermining our aspirations and efforts aimed at self-reliance. According to recent estimates, Africa’s agri-food import bill has increased stubbornly to reach an average of 45-50 billion US$ per year.
The fact that Africa is among the fastest growing regions in the world on the one hand, and, yet it is the most food insecure continent with more than a fifth of its population categorized as undernourished on the other hand, remains Africa’s Paradox today. We know that the root cause of this is to be ascribed to the low level of agricultural productivity, organized around a subsistence mode, which is also hampering sustainable structural transformation of Africa’s economies. Macroeconomic trends indicate that the share of agriculture in GDP has been declining and that of the service sector expanding in Africa, but with a stagnant or even declining share of industrial particularly manufacturing sector, thus leading to a big number of people remaining in agriculture.
Such an imbalance has effectively delinked the productive sectors, i.e., agriculture and industry, with serious repercussions on job creation, productivity, value-addition, competitiveness, and self-reliance. In the process, Africa is being converted into a dumping ground for imported consumer items driven by speculative rent-seeking trade practices. It is also draining our scarce foreign exchange and overshadowing our potential to meet our needs.
Worse still, some projections tell us that, under a "business as usual scenario," Africa's agricultural production will cover only less than 15% of the continent's needs by 2050! Heavy dependence on increasing imports that are becoming expensive, unreliable and volatile, to feed the continent’s fast-growing and urbanizing population in the face of considerable potential for increased production and intra-regional trade in food, can hardly be a sustainable food security strategy and, more so, in the context of climate change.
Excellences, if I may read your minds, the bottom line is that the current production trend is not sustainable at all! And clearly such a gloomy future can simply not be part of our Vision of the Africa future We Want!
The good news is that Africa can rise up to the challenges of realizing its potentials and its vision through harnessing the domestic and global opportunities, by embracing an Agenda for Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods – which is the theme of Your Excellence’s debate today.
This brings me to the third aspect of my presentation: that is, our vision of the Agriculture Future We want for Africa to prevail in a decade’s time (by 2025): a vision that is articulated through a series of broad-based consultations carried out by the AU Commission and the NEPAD Agency with key stakeholders and partners, as part of our commemoration of the Year of Agriculture and Food Security. I will sum it up in four aspirations: modernization, business, resilience and realization of potential.
First, we want a future Africa that has modernized its agricultural and food sector so that it becomes a highly productive, competitive, profitable, rewarding and, therefore, attractive to those who are engaged in it, in particular the youth and women. Clearly hand-hoe based agriculture is not compatible with the transformation agenda.
Second, we want a future Africa that has organized its agriculture as a viable business that is contributing to and benefiting from the industrialization and an economy-wide transformation agenda; which can be achieved through deliberate actions to develop agro-processing, agro-industries and agribusinesses. The agenda of agricultural transformation is about walking up the value-chain ladder along agro-industrial and agribusiness development patterns that contribute to further job-creation and income-generation and, therefore, shared prosperity, as these in turn catalyse production to greater heights. I have already mentioned the huge potential of these sub-sectors in revolutionarising change and development in Africa.
Third, we want an Africa that has significantly built its resilience capacity to mitigate and adapt to shocks that prey on its high vulnerabilities to natural and human made risks, including climate change, and/or economic shocks, including unsustainable dependence on food imports.
Fourth, we want an Africa that harnesses its immense potentials, including its markets, the resourcefulness of its people, and its huge resource abundance, in driving its transformation agenda.
Excellences, now I turn to my fourth and last, but not least, aspect of my presentation: that is, on the crucial significance of translating the vision into reality, that of transforming potentials into possibilities. Yes, we can choose to realize our vision, and the extensive consultations conducted in the context of Africa Agenda 2063 have shown us that we know what it takes to get there! And most importantly, we believe that there is enough knowledge and experience around to capitalize on to realize our vision of the agriculture future we want.
As I mentioned above, the elements of what it takes to realize our vision have also been subject to scrutiny at different levels of stakeholders’ consultations, involving experts from AU Member States, the private sector, civil society, farmers organisations, women and youth, as well as our partners. The key issues that have been formulated and examined at several fora, including the 10th CAADP Partnership Platform meeting that was held in March 2014 in Durban, South Africa, a forum of over 650 participants from all categories of key stakeholders of Africa's agri-food system, were considered by your ministers at the AU Joint Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture held on 1st and 2nd of May 2014 at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa. The said Ministers adopted Resolutions and Key messages for Your Excellences’ consideration, as you debate on the theme here in Malabo.
Excellences, an important aspect of our knowledge of what it takes to realize the potentials and the vision relates to the most fundamental driver of change and development in Africa; that is political determination, for which we are confident that it exists right here. Your Excellences have the political will accompanying your sense of mission. And, therefore,, as you debate on the theme, I wish to draw Your Excellence’s consideration to the clarion calls for your exceptional leadership and guidance on the following six (6) set of commitments that are absolutely necessary in our collective struggle to realize our visions and goals.
1. Agricultural growth and transformation, first and foremost, must address the challenges of hunger and malnutrition. To this end, we need the actualization of Your Excellences commitment to Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025, which can be achieved through several interventions pertaining to accelerating productivity growth, reducing post-harvest losses and enhancing nutrition, among others.
2. It is inconceivable that most value-added in African global agricultural value chains occur outside of Africa, effectively forcing Africa to lose from foregone employment, skills and incomes opportunities. Yet, these have the most profound impact on the largest number of people. Your Excellences, we seek your commitment to an inclusive Agricultural Growth and Transformation that can contribute to poverty reduction by at least half, by the year 2025, through various actions in the areas of commodity value chains and empowerment of women and youth.
3. Africa's agri-food systems need to become not only more productive, but also competitive, with a view to stemming the continent's heavy dependence on food imports, meeting the fast-growing and diversifying demands of intra-African local, national and regional markets and beyond, responding to the demands of a growing and exigent global market. We need Your Excellences demonstration of commitment to boost intra-African Trade through: tripling, by the year 2025, intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services; and creating and enhancing policies and institutional conditions and support systems especially those related to agribusiness and agro-industries.
4. Africa's agricultural transformation should aim at enhancing the resilience of the livelihoods and production systems of rural households (including farmers, pastoralists and fisher folks) to climate and other related risks. To this end, we need Your Excellences’ heightened commitment towards building resilience and reducing vulnerability.
5. We strongly believe that Africa's agricultural transformation must rest first and foremost on Africa's own resources and resourcefulness as Pan Africanism and African Renaissance has at its core not only self-determination but also self-reliance. This is the most powerful and candid way to demonstrate not only our resolve but also our ownership and leadership of the African agricultural transformation agenda. As Africans, we must first look within ourselves, mobilise and harness public and private domestic resources, before seeking external help. To this end, we seek Your Excellences’ renewed commitment to enhance Investment Finance, both public and private, in Agriculture through upholding earlier commitments but also through creating and enhancing necessary appropriate policy and institutional conditions and support systems for the facilitation of private investment in agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries. This will be instrumental in leveraging private sector investment finance, through effective public-private partnerships, well beyond the current low level of 5.8% of total commercial lending to agriculture -- to a scale that is commensurate with the wealth and job creation potential of transformed agri-food systems that Africa cannot afford to miss in the next 10 years.
Your Excellences’ leadership and guidance on actions in the five areas I just outlined are definitely key for realizing our vision of the agriculture future we want. However, effective delivery on such commitments will require improved sector governance, coordination and capacity strengthening, which in turn entail several actions.

To this end, therefore we need Your Excellences’ commitment towards Mutual Accountability to Actions and Results through a periodic, possibly biennial Agricultural Review Process akin to the existing African Peer Review Mechanism; fostering alignment, harmonisation and coordination among multi-sectorial efforts and multi-institutional platforms for peer review, mutual learning and mutual accountability; and strengthening national and regional institutional capacities for knowledge and data generation and management that support evidence based planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
And finally, in recognition of the instrumentality and the added value that CAADP has been demonstrating over the last decade of experience, we need Your Excellences’ recommitment to the Principles and Values of the CAADP Process and for sustaining the momentum.
Once again, Your Excellences, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been a singular honour for me to highlight key outcomes and messages of a highly inclusive consultative process on sustaining the momentum of Africa's agricultural transformation agenda for your highest consideration, deliberations and strategic guidance.
I thank Your Excellences for your kind attention.

Statement for H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace
Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture
at the African Agribusiness Forum
22 June 2014,
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

Excellency Fatima Acyl, The Commissioner Trade and Industry of the African Union
Excellency, The Commissioner Political Affairs
Representatives from our Regional Economic Communities,
Development Partners,
Representatives from the Private Sector,
Civil Society Organisations,
The Youth
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is with honour and pleasure that I welcome you to the African Agribusiness Forum at Malabo, Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

We would like to salute the Government of Equatorial Guinea for the warm welcome and the good environment for this forum and the summit.

We consider the last decade to have been phenomenal in redefining and reshaping the critical path to the attainment of Africa`s agricultural transformation objectives. Between 2002 and 2013, real GDP in Africa grew on average by more than 5 per cent annually, more than twice as much as the 80’s and 90’s. Never before has Africa experienced such rapid growth rates for an extended period. It is also evident that future growth on the continent will be supported by external trends such as the global scramble for commodities on account of rapid world population growth, fast urbanisation and accompanying consumption patterns. With world food production needing to rise by 40% over the next 30 years, Africa features as an indispensable part of the solution.

Excellencies,
The African Union has placed among its top priorities the improvement of the productive capacity of the agricultural sector. Studies have indicated that increasing agricultural production and productivity could boost Africa’s overall GDP growth rate by 1 percentage point annually - generating a 6% increase in overall expenditure of the poorest 10% of the population and this augurs well for the pursuit of inclusiveness towards the attainment of the aspiration for prosperity. We are also aware that by 2050, Africa will be home to one- fifth of the world’s population. Not only does the continent have the world’s fastest growing population but also has the youngest. This rapid growth, combined with a strong trend towards urbanization, poses a huge challenge for peace and security, economic opportunity and food security. It is within our hands to harness these opportunities and overcome the challenges to propel the African continent forward in the context of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, while we recognise the pivotal position and role of smallholder farmers in African agriculture, we also note with concern that most small-scale farmers are more than 50 years old, many of them retirees and from salaried employment. At this rate we may no cope with the compelling continental and global megatrends that call for transformation of agriculture with well-designed and properly executed strategies to attract and retain youth in agriculture and farming. Also in the last 50 years, slow progress on agribusiness has been largely due to extremely low scale use of modern inputs, mechanization and irrigation. Additionally, there has been inadequate and often uncoordinated investment in agriculture and agribusiness by the private and public sector. Fortunately, there is momentum towards correcting this.

The recent AU Joint Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1st to 2nd May 2014 adopted a Resolution endorsing seven Africa Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation Goals (3AGTGs) to 2025 for consideration by the AU Heads of State Summit here in Malabo. The joint conference recommended among other things the need to enhance Public-Private Partnerships and Investment Financing for African Agriculture and called on stakeholders to establish and/or strengthen inclusive public-private partnerships for at least five (5) priority agricultural commodity value chains with strong linkage to smallholder agriculture and strengthen the capacities of domestic apex private sector intermediary institutions for inclusive facilitation and coordination to ensure engagement of private sector in CAADP implementation. The African Agribusiness Forum will, therefore, provide an opportunity for men, women and youth stakeholders in the agribusiness sector to discuss and develop concrete strategies for the realization of these recommendations.

The purpose of this forum is, therefore, to enable stakeholders in the agribusiness sector to discuss and develop concrete strategies for the realization of the recommendations by the AU Joint Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture on Enhancing Public-Private Partnerships and Investment Financing for African Agriculture

The implementation of the Ministerial Commitments and later those of Heads of State and Government, will require policies and strategies that place the development of agriculture and agribusiness at the centre of economic and social development. Learning levels and scaling out of best practices need to be increased. If these trends continue, Africa will be playing an increasingly important role in the global economy by 2050 and that again is one of the aspirations of the AU for Africa to become a dynamic force in the global arena. With a predicted labour force size of 1.1 billion, the size of Africa’s labour force will overtake China and India to become the largest worldwide. But we do not want top only bypass by numbers but also by skills in science, technology and innovation – and, here, the role of the private sector is critical in partnership with government and other stakeholders. We also still note that the risks and costs of African agriculture are still too high for farmers, SMEs, and investors to be globally competitive. The good news is that we see AU Member States’ Government keen on accelerating action to improve the enabling environment in response to market priorities. We would like to see the private sector seize the opportunity presented by this paradigm.

We further recognise that enhanced agricultural performance is key to growth and poverty reduction through its direct impact on job creation, especially for women and youth; on food security and improved nutrition. Therefore, the year 2014, the year of Agriculture and Food Security and the marking 10th Anniversary CAADP is an important milestone and an opportunity to be seized by leaders and partners in the resolve to transform agriculture and advance food and nutrition security as a priority for policy and actions to generate concrete results and impacts in terms of health, jobs and incomes.

In order to bring the almost 600 million hectares of cropland into cultivation in an environmentally sustainable way, Africa’s increased access to capital and its ability to form new types of economic partnerships with investors will aid further growth. Hence, Africa’s agricultural growth will continue to be about government actions as our governments continue to increase their investment in agriculture - the catalytic investments by the private sector and development partners will continue to be critical in advancing the development of the value chain.

Therefore, the private sector must uphold their defining character of innovativeness and willingness to take on and share risk. The quality, focus and scale of collaboration must improve across all partners if we are to truly unlock sustainable investment in agriculture.

Again, the good news is that investment is starting to move, operations are growing, and, encouragingly, companies, finance institutions and investors are all demonstrating a serious strategic intent to work with smallholders and SMEs to expand economic and business opportunities in agriculture. Innovations on business models, finance, technology and public sector interests are combining to improve the commercial equation for investments along agricultural value chains from family farms to processing facilities and service providers. Further improvement in post-harvest management and processing of agricultural commodities is critical in expanding the regional agricultural trade that underpins wealth creation and food security.

On the private sector front, coordinated efforts through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) should receive the highest priority and has the power to transform the continent through long-term capital investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth. Similarly, we have noted from best practices and success stories in a number of AU Member States that a strong and visionary public and private leadership committed to the implementation of consistent policies, strategy and regulatory frameworks is a factor in the successful transformation of the agriculture sector. However, industrialization of agriculture remains critical to drive growth. Lessons from agricultural development achieved in emerging economies show that integration needs to go beyond the agriculture sector to build synergies with other sectors of the economy including both soft and hard infrastructure such as transport, ICT, intra-African trade and related financial services. The importance of a symbiotic relationship between agriculture industry and services cannot be overemphasised.

We should, therefore, set ourselves the goal of making 2014 a milestone year, a tipping point where we convert our commitments to deliver outcomes on the ground. This is the essence of Africa’s Year of Agriculture and Food Security.

These experiences are strong indicators that inclusive growth as advocated under CAADP is a process requiring sustained and concerted actions and efforts in application of quality policies, strategies, programmes, and investments driven by strong political commitment and leadership and fostering effective partnerships.

It is, therefore, desirable that in the next decade we together build on this momentum to deliver in an accelerated manner, positive changes towards prosperity that directly impacts on livelihoods of African citizens through an inclusive agricultural transformation process.

For us at the AU with the leadership of the AUC under the stewardship of H.E Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, remain committed to working with you in moving the African agricultural transformation agenda forward.

It is my expectation that the outcomes of today’s deliberations will input in the debate on Agriculture on the 26th June 2014 at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union Heads of State and Government here in Malabo.

Thank you and I wish you fruitful deliberations.
Dates:
Jun.22.2014

Welcome remarks of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to the 28th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representative Committee

Malabo, 20-22 June 2014

 
Your Excellency, Ambassador of Zimbabwe and Acting Chairperson of the Permanent Representatives Committee;

Your Excellencies Members of the Permanent Representatives Committee;

The Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Mr Erastus Mwencha;

Leaders of AU Organs

Representatives of the Regional Economic Communities

Commissioners of the African Union Commission;

Distinguished Officials from Capitals

Distinguished Invited Guests

It is a pleasure to address the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) given your important role in Summit preparations and in complementing the day-to-day work of the African Union Commission.

Allow me to sincerely thank the people and Government of Equatorial Guinea for their legendary hospitality and for putting at our disposal these excellent conference facilities.

Your Excellencies

The meeting of the PRC takes place in the context a working sessions of the Summit, looking at progress on decisions that should consolidate the work of the Union and take the continent forward.

At the same time, we are near-conclusion with the political statement and technical documents on our vision for the next fifty years. The work on Agenda 2063, as our discussions at the joint PRC-AU Commission retreat showed, must move beyond aspirations, towards identifying those concrete areas where we must see action and faster movement forward in the next decade, so that we start building the Africa that we want today.

The theme of this Summit and its focus on Agriculture and Food security is but one such area. The theme debate must see us recommit to the overarching CAADP targets of raising investment and productivity in agriculture. We must also put in place the concrete actions we must take as countries, regions and the continent to stimulate agribusiness value chains, identifying which specific agricultural products this should be, and where. It requires renewed focus on irrigation and seed development; women’s access to land, inputs and markets; and the infrastructure to store products and move them to markets, inside and outside the continent.

Many of the Ministerial reports serving before the PRC focus on other practical issues necessary to move Agenda 2063 forward, such as that of the Ministers of Education, and of the Ministers of Science and Technology and others.

The evidence is overwhelming that developing countries who managed to lift their populations out of poverty and build shared prosperity, are those who heavily invested in education, skills development and science and technology; as well as building their infrastructure. It is thus timely that Summit is requested to consider our vision and the concrete tasks to achieve this especially in Science and Technology.

Excellencies,

We are five years away from our target date for silencing the guns. This requires focused attention to resolving the conflicts that remain, consolidating peace and preventing and stopping the outbreak of other conflicts. At the same time, as we have seen in Mali and Somalia and escalating in Nigeria and Kenya, we face the growing threat of terrorism, extremism and attacks on innocent civilians. Our hearts go out to the victims and families of such attacks, and we must continue to pledge solidarity and work with the governments of the affected countries to stem the tide.

Terrorism and transnational crime, including arms, drugs and human trafficking know no borders, and we are all affected. The AU must also continue to address the issue of sexual violence in conflicts, as we push for protection of civilians, participation of women in peace processes and for prevention.

It bears repeating that the surest route to lasting peace and permanently silencing the guns is to build inclusive, equitable and tolerant societies. We must be steadfast about creating conditions for peace, through the building blocks of development and shared prosperity.

Excellencies,

It is for all these reasons that the continual improvement of the institutional architecture of our Union remains important, a matter that occupied our deliberations during the Hawassa PRC-AUC Retreat in April this year.

The Commission itself, as we informed you at the January Summit, is been paying attention to institutional matters, and is in the process of concluding the organizational review of the structure of the Commission. We also introduced measurers to make our travel policy more cost-effective, and ensured that all administrative structures required in the Rules and Procedures - including the long-moribund Administrative Tribunal - are
functional.

The Commission is improving the turnaround time of its recruitment processes, applying the country quotas to ensure fair distribution, and taking concrete steps to move closer to gender parity in its employment practices.

Over the last week, we presented the 2015 Budget of the Commission, with welcome engagements on the capacity of the Commission to spend, as well as the optimal relationship between its operational and programmatic budget.

As we move with Africa’s integration agenda, the mandates given to the AU by Member States have also been growing. It is, therefore, inevitable that the AU budget has continued to increase over the years.

Your Excellencies;

We are also progressing with the review of Strategic partnerships of the Union, and should be ready to present to next year’s summit. At the same time, there are valuable lessons from the Africa-EU Summit held at the beginning of March this year, that when we are clear about what Africa wants and we coordinate our efforts, we can ensure that we have outcomes which do not undermine our continental agendas. In the coming months, some of us have also been invited to the Africa-US Summit, and we should follow the same approach.

We can already see the benefits of our Common African Position on the post-2015 Development Agenda, providing us with a platform to engage other regions, build South-South solidarity, most recently during the Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial meeting in Algiers and the just held ACP-EU meetings in Nairobi.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

You will recall that the Executive Council, when they met at a Retreat in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, in January this year established a Ministerial Sub-Committee to follow up on implementation of their decisions, as well as Agenda 2063.

The Ministerial Sub-Committee met earlier this month, with the participation of Chief Executive Officers of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and our strategic partners, the AfDB and UNECA and made valuable inputs on a variety of issues at the core of Africa’s integration agenda. As we deliberate on Agenda 2063 at this session, I trust that those inputs will be taken into consideration.

In conclusion, I know that your Excellencies have been working continuously since May to finalise the reports of the various PRC sub-Committees. This preparatory work and deliberations here at Malabo will go a long way in facilitating the work of the Executive Council and of the Assembly.

I wish to assure you that the Commission will do its best to facilitate your work, and ensuring that the outcomes of your deliberations, and those of the policy organs, are implemented. In this regard, we hope to continue to receive your maximum support and cooperation.

In conclusion, I apologise for the hick-ups in logistics, and assure you that we are working with the host country on these matters.

I wish you fruitful deliberations and thank you for your attention.

Merci beaucoup!
Muito obrigado!
Muchas gracias!
Shukran jazilan!
Asante sana!